This application is the parent of Ser. No. 09/969,637, filed Oct. 4, 2001.
The present invention relates to cellular communication systems and, more particularly, to a cellular configuration for determining the location of a mobile station.
The increased terminal mobility offered by cellular telephone networks as well as mobile radio data networks has brought about an increased demand for location-based services and applications. Fleet operators are interested in automated vehicle tracking applications to enhance their dispatch operations. Moreover, stolen vehicle recovery systems have enjoyed a significant amount of success during the past few years. However, most efforts to date have been designed around specialized equipment employed at the mobile operator site for acquiring location information. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,736 to Darnell et al. discloses a cellular position locating system where the location of a remote unit is derived from data transmitted by a global positioning system to a specially equipped receiver at the remote unit.
The present invention concerns, in a cellular system comprising a plurality of cell sites each including a plurality of mobile stations in communication with a base station, and comprising a plurality of interconnected mobile switching centers each in communication with the base stations of certain cell sites, wherein each mobile switching center maintains network identification data for each mobile station being served in said certain cell sites, a method of determining the location of a mobile station originating communications within a cell site, comprising the steps of: acquiring the network identification data for said mobile station from the mobile switching center serving said cell site; and translating said acquired network identification data into geographical location information.
In another aspect the present invention concerns, in a cellular system comprising a plurality of cell sites each including a plurality of mobile stations in communication with a base station, and comprising a plurality of interconnected mobile switching centers each in communication with the base stations of certain cell sites, wherein each mobile switching center maintains network identification data for each mobile station being served in said certain cell sites, a method of determining the location of a mobile station originating communications within a cell site, comprising the steps of: transmitting from the mobile switching center a cellular channel including the network identification data for said mobile station; receiving the transmitted network identification data; and translating the received network identification data into geographical location information.